Uber is worth more than Barbie

At $18.2 billion, Uber is worth more than Mattel. Maybe Barbie should become an Uber driver?

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Paul R. La Monica. Other than Time Warner, the parent of CNNMoney, Abbott Laboratories and AbbVie, La Monica does not own positions in any individual stocks.

That's one expensive cab ride! Uber disclosed Friday that it had raised $1.2 billion from investors. The latest round of financing values the company at a whopping $18.2 billion.

To put that in perspective, Uber -- which for those not in the know runs an app that lets people connect with car service drivers -- is worth more than these 12 companies in the S&P 500 that you probably have heard of.

Alcoa(AA). Market cap: $16.4 billion. Maybe Alcoa can hitch itself to the Uber bandwagon by touting that more cars are being made with aluminum.

It's also amusing to note that Uber is now worth almost as much as the combined market value of car rental "giants" Hertz (HTZ) -- market value of $12.4 billion -- and Avis Budget (CAR) -- market value of $6.3 billion.

Paul R. La Monica is an assistant managing editor at CNNMoney. He is the author of the site's daily column, The Buzz, and also tweets throughout the day about the markets and economy @LaMonicaBuzz. La Monica also oversees the site's economic, markets and technology coverage.